Layne Beachley on how childhood tragedy created a world champion

The greatest female surfer in history, Layne Beachley, has told Macquarie Sports Radio how childhood tragedy spurred her on to winning seven surfing world titles.

Speaking with David Morrow and Mat Thompson as part of their Heroes segment where they take a look at the lives and careers of Australian sporting legends Beachley said, “I lost my mother when I was 6 years old from a brain hemorrhage during a cosmetic surgery procedure which was devastating.

“That rocked my world of course.

“And then when I was eight years old that’s when my Dad told me I was adopted and I thought at that stage it’s a little too late to tell someone they’re adopted.

“What I learnt from that is I felt this deep yearning to prove that I was deserving of love because I had decided that because I was given away by my mother at birth that I wasn’t deserving of love.

“So I had wrapped up success in being deserving of love. I had defined being worthy of love by becoming the best in the world at something.”